Sampling biological tissues in certain organs of a living being proves to be particularly complex because of the risks of damaging the organ in which the sample is taken.
This is for example the case of brain tumors, which are not very accessible to biopsy considering the incurred risks in terms of irreversible cognitive lesions.
Document WO 2006/082344 describes a minimally invasive sampling device which comprises a rod and a capture surface borne by the rod, intended to be applied against the biological tissue.
Document WO 2013/098703 describes a similar device, in which the capture surface includes a nanoporous material, and in particular nanoporous silicon.
By simple contact between the capture surface which is advantageously micro-structured or porous—and the tissue, a capture of cells and of macromolecules is obtained in territories of the nervous system inaccessible by surgery.
Considering the fact that the size of the tumor may be small, it is necessary that the capture surface be brought accurately at the tumor in order to sample the cells and macromolecules of interest.
However, accurate localization of the anatomic area where the sample is taken by means of this device is relatively complex, the practitioner not being able to directly view the organ in which it is introduced.
For this purpose, one possibility is to make the sampling device compatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—i.e. typically by making it in non-magnetic materials—which with this imaging technique gives the possibility of observing the introduction of the sampling device into the organ and checking the location of the capture surface.
However, applying the sampling under MRI poses difficulties in terms of availability of the equipment.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to proceed with a sampling of biological tissues in a specific area of an organ by doing it without magnetic resonance imaging.